Jordan praises Cummings

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, front right, ranking member of the Committee on Oversight Reform, returns to a closed door meeting where Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, testifies as part of the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

WASHINGTON — Whoever takes over for Elijah E. Cummings as chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform will have a game rhetorical adversary in ranking member Jim Jordan of Ohio, founder of the hardline House Freedom Caucus and one of President Trump’s staunchest defenders in Washington.

Jordan saluted Cummings on Thursday as a “man of great consequence and significance” on the oversight panel for more than two decades. “He injected an unyielding passion and purpose into his work on the committee,” Jordan said.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney has been named acting chairwoman following Cummings’ death Thursday. A formal replacement for Cummings will come at “a later time,” a senior Democratic leadership aide told CQ Roll Call.

Early names circulating among Democrats to fill the chair past an acting capacity include Maloney, Reps. William Lacy Clay of Missouri, Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts and Gerry E. Connolly of Virginia.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, front right, ranking member of the Committee on Oversight Reform, returns to a closed door meeting where Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, testifies as part of the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

https://www.limaohio.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2019/10/web1_jim-jordan.jpgRep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, front right, ranking member of the Committee on Oversight Reform, returns to a closed door meeting where Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, testifies as part of the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)